The second task was ten days after Valentine's day. The Weasley twins kept doing bets and this time the task was held on the lake. Draco and Jade walked together there, they were slightly late and that's why no one else was with them.
It was a gloomy day and Jade wasn't thinking of the horrible creatures that lived in that lake or what they actually had to do, she was thinking about how freezing the water was. She was wearing a thick hoodie and a beanie and the fact that the grey clouds were covering the sun made things worse.
To be honest this was very boring to watch, as they couldn't see what the champions were doing. There was a commentator but it wasn't the same.
"Are we supposed to be here, staring at the water for an hour?" Jade complaint.
"How fun, isn't it?" her brother said to her as he stood in between her and Draco.
"Yep."
Jade and Lexion had been having arguments quite often since he found out about what Jade said to Cassius. But for some reason he didn't know what he had done exactly that made her act like that, Channel told him a few days ago and now he sort of sided with her. Jade was a bit surprised that Cass had chosen to not tell Lex and let him find out about it through someone else.
"Look, I think what he did was wrong and no one does something wrong to my sister. But he didn't fully do it..."
"Because Draco stopped him," Jade said interrupting him.
"And I think you had the right to be upset but come on, that was two months ago. You made it clear that you weren't happy with his behaviour and I think it serves him well that you said no to him but let it go now... He's sorry. He regrets it and..."
"And I don't want to talk about this in public," Jade said, her eyes fixed on his. "There are people from every house around us and I don't want more rumours about me around the school."
Their conversation was interrupted when Fleur Delacour was forced to retire and brought to the surface. Her schoolmates looked more disappointed than worried about Fleur. So far, she hadn't done well.
"She was last in the first task and now she doesn't even end this task," Chantel said in a mocking tone. "Why was she even chosen as Champion?"
"Maybe she will win the last task," Jade said with a shrug.
"Nah, I think Krum will win. He's got more of a chance," Chantel said.
"Or Diggory," Channel added. "And you should support our school, you know?"
"Or Potter," Jade said quickly, making everyone around her look at her. "Just because he's Potter."
"And if you think about it," Draco added. "That girl and Krum are alone but Potter has Diggory, and he has Potter. They are going to help each other if they can."
"Maybe," Jade said. "But there can only be one Champion."
Soon, the first champion got out of the water with the 'treasure' he needed to recover. In Cedric's case it was his girlfriend Cho Chang. About two minutes later Viktor Krum came out with a girl.
"Is that... the Mud-blood?" Jade asked, astonished.
"Well, they went to the Yule Ball together," Channel said with a shrug.
"Some people have really bad taste," Chantel added.
"Indeed," Jade whispered.
Then at last Harry came out with none other but Ron, which was no surprise. Jade hadn't really noticed Ron's absence. Jade then noticed there was a blonde girl with them as well, Fleur instructed the younger girl to swim towards her in French.
The three got out of the water and joined the other champions and the people taken from them. As a way to say thank you, Fleur kissed Ron in both cheeks. Ron went so red Jade chuckled, earning a couple of stares but she ignored them.
Dumbledore announced the winners and points a few minutes later. Fleur was obviously fourth, Krum third and Harry second, because of the act of kindness of rescuing not only Ron but the girl too, and Cedric first.
"The things they do for Potter," Draco commented. "I bet they would have invented any other pathetic excuse to make him get at least second place. This is ridiculous!"
Adding up the points of both tasks, Fleur was last, no surprise, followed by Krum and both boys from Hogwarts were tied in first place. Somehow, that wasn't a surprise either.
The weekend passed by quite quickly, everyone kept talking about the tournament and the task and some were trying to guess what the next task might be. Some were already running more bets.
"Did you feel anything while you were underwater?" Jade asked Ron during Charms. Somehow they always sat together in that class. And she had been eager to ask him all day but hadn't had the chance until then.
"No. We were told what was happening, took us to the lake and they put us in the water when we were already... I don't know, unconscious, sleeping? And then just woke up when I got to the surface. Felt nothing."
"But you felt Fleur's kisses, didn't you?" Jade said smirking.
Ron's whole face went red and he started coughing. Other students turned to looked at him and Jade looked at him strangely, pretending she didn't know what was going on.
"Must be for being in the lake for so long," Jade commented with an innocent shrug as finally, Flitwick turned to look at them.
He just made a face, not liking being interrupted and a glass of water appeared out of thin air right in front of Ron. He drank the water quickly and the coughing ceased. Their classmates stopped looking at them and just went back to taking notes.
Potter who was in the next seat with Granger, just glared at Jade. Potter just asked Ron if he was okay in low whispers. He nodded. Jade even noticed that Granger couldn't stop looking at her, as if she was jealous. So she smirked at the brunette girl and got slightly closer to Ron. She took a deep breath and looked like she was ready to hit her as she looked away.
"Interesting," Jade whispered.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing." She smiled.
"Ron, is there something you want to tell us?" Harry asked one night later, while they were in the common room. The two of them were copying one of Hermione's essays as usual while she was working on an assignment for Potions.
"Uh, like what?" Ron asked, confused.
"We are not blind, Ron."
"I know," Ron said in a duh tone.
"Do you like Lias, Ron?" Harry asked.
"What?" Ron exclaimed. "I already said no, Harry! Why do you keep asking?"
"Harry told me you danced together and you sit next to her during charms," Hermione said, talking for the first time. "And I think you two sit too close to each other."
"It was the only available seat! It's not my fault I ended up next to her!"
"You also ended up next to her in the dance floor?" Hermione asked, sarcastically.
"Yes, if you put it like that, yes," Ron said, making Hermione even more upset.
"Look, Ron. We are not judging, okay? We just want to understand. If you give us a good reason we can try to accept it."
"Guys!" Ron yelled. "Just stop, Jade and I aren't together, I don't like her!"
"Jade?" Hermione exclaimed in shock, noticing he had called her by her first name. Harry hadn't noticed but when he did, he just looked at Ron weirdly.
"Well, there are two Lias... so..." Ron stuttered not knowing what to say.
"Yeah, but we all know which one we are talking about," Harry said. "So, Jade, huh?"
"Well, that's her name, isn't it?" Ron said in an annoyed tone.
Ron left the common room very annoyed and angry. Like what was their issue? Why couldn't they assume they were just being friendly towards each other instead of accusing him of being with her or liking her? They were being ridiculous.
For the following days and even weeks, during charms and even other classes she kept getting closer to Ron whenever Granger was watching. During one class at the end of March, Jade actually rubbed her hand against Ron's. She pretended it was an accident but when she turned to look at Granger, she smirked at her and she did it a second time, this time she didn't remove her hand and surprisingly enough, Ron didn't either.
Of course Ron was bombarded with accusations, mostly from Granger, earning some attention from other students. At times, their arguments happened outside the Gryffindor common room and usually she couldn't control her temper, even Slytherins heard her at times.
"Don't be jealous, Granger," Jade said to her the following day as they almost bumped into each other as they both tried to walked inside the Transfiguration classroom. Jade's voice was cold and emotionless, making Granger shiver and even angrier at the whole situation. "And if you are, well, don't let it be so obvious. It's a pathetic look."
Granger took out her wand and pointed it right at her, what stopped her from doing anything to Jade was her eyes. They didn't show any hint of fear. They were empty. She couldn't read them, even now that they were completely green with that little circle of blue, which was when she was more 'readable'. Granger even noticed as her eyes turned a shade lighter and she just stared. Any person, including Slytherins, would have shown at least for just a second, fear, or if not, at least shock. But Jade didn't and Granger was taken aback.
"Miss Granger?" McGonagall exclaimed in surprise.
It was then when Jade's face changed to complete horror and she looked vulnerable. She even put a hand over her chest. She looked like an ordinary girl Granger could have been easily tricked by her act if she hadn't known what had really happened.
"Can you explain what is going on?"
"Nothing, Professor."
"This doesn't look like nothing."
"I can explain, if you let me," Jade said quickly. "Professor."
"Please, Miss Lias."
"She found out her crush is crushing on me," Jade said innocently, still her voice sounded weak and it broke at the end. Granger glared at her. "And she threatened to do something to me if I didn't stay away but Professor, why should I?"
"Oh for Melrin's sake, is this over a boy?" McGonagall asked and Jade nodded. Granger blushed, which the older woman noticed. "Miss Granger, I won't tolerate violence or this kind of behaviour, especially over a boy. Detention this evening."
When McGonagall walked inside, Jade smirked at the Gryffindor, she was about to follow McGonagall inside when Granger pointed her wand at her again. She stopped immediately. Once again fear was nowhere to be shown in her face and her smirk didn't leave at first. Jade winked and then the smirk vanished.
"Professor!"
"Miss Granger!" she explained. "Well done, you turned one day-detention into a week. I shall expect you here every evening before dinner."
Potter only glared at Jade, while Ron missed the whole thing and was told about it later. He didn't participate much in the conversation, though.
As Granger walked to her seat next to Potter in defeat, Draco put an arm around Jade as she proudly sat next to him. She honestly hadn't planned to get Granger in detention, she was just messing with her, so the result was more than satisfactory to Jade.
"What happened?" Draco asked.
"I just said Potter was a cheat," Jade said. "And she pointed her wand at me, how dares she? But got what she deserved."
"I disagree, a Mud-blood doing that to a Pure-blood... but something is something, I guess."
Question: Do you ship Hermione and Ron? I don't and never did. I think everyone should have found someone outside of the group. Like, maybe they could have dated but then find someone else and get married to other people.
